Recipes with lemons

Boiled wheat ground with walnuts and sugar, shaped and dusted with icing sugar. Koljivo (žito) is offered with a spoon to every guest at a slava.

Milica Jovanović

Cod in a crisp, bubbly batter with thick double-fried chips, mushy peas and tartare sauce.

Paul Wagner

Chickpeas cooked until very soft and blended with tahini, lemon, garlic and ice water until light and whipped.

Gentiana Shala

Ridged choux fingers fried until crisp and dropped into cold syrup. Sold in every slastičarna from Skopje to Sarajevo.

Emina Softić

Whole apples poached in lemon syrup, filled with sweet walnuts and crowned with whipped cream. The elegant dessert of Bosnian iftar tables.

Amira Hodžić

Soft yellow lentils finished with a sizzling tadka of cumin, garlic, chilli and curry leaves. Comfort in a bowl with rice.

Driton Berisha

Little bite-size doughnuts with raisins, citrus zest and a splash of rum, fried golden and showered with icing sugar. The smell of Advent on the Croat...

Luka Petrović

Forty sheets of filo, layers of walnuts and clarified butter, baked crisp and soaked in lemon syrup. The festive sweet of Bajram tables from Prizren t...

Amira Hodžić

Tender little walnut shortbreads sandwiched with apricot or rosehip jam and rolled in vanilla sugar. They soften beautifully after a day in the tin.

Milica Jovanović

Hand-stretched dough so thin you can read through it, rolled around apples, raisins, cinnamon and buttered breadcrumbs.

Sara Kovačević

Shredded kadayıf pastry with a molten, stretchy cheese centre, fried in butter until crisp and soaked in hot syrup. Topped with pistachios and eaten a...

Gentiana Shala

Small shortbread cakes shaped like dates, ridged on a grater and soaked in lemon syrup. The name comes from hurma, the Turkish word for date.

Amira Hodžić

Soft, buttery cookies baked golden and drenched in lemon syrup, each topped with an almond or hazelnut. A must on the Bajram table in Albanian homes.

Elira Hoxha

A rich, citrus-scented brioche with a three-cut cross on top, baked for Easter morning and blessed in church with the eggs.

Sara Kovačević

A bright herb salad: mostly parsley and mint, with a little fine bulgur, tomato, lemon and olive oil.

Elira Hoxha

Lemon, garlic and oregano chicken skewers, grilled and wrapped in warm pita with tzatziki, tomato and onion.

Gentiana Shala

A rolled veal or pork cutlet filled with kajmak, breaded and fried until golden. Created in 1959 in Belgrade, it is served with tartar sauce, lemon an...

Stefan Đorđević

Quinoa, roasted sweet potato and crispy chickpeas, kale and avocado with a lemony tahini dressing.

Gentiana Shala

Crisp romaine, garlic croutons, grilled chicken and a punchy dressing of anchovy, parmesan, lemon and egg yolk.

Gentiana Shala

The soup that opens the iftar table: red lentils, onion and carrot simmered and blended silky, finished with paprika oil and lemon.

Elira Hoxha

A creamy, dense New York style cheesecake on a buttery biscuit base, topped with fresh berries.

Elira Hoxha

Veal escalopes pounded thin, breaded and fried in plenty of fat so the crust puffs away from the meat in waves. Served with lemon and potato salad.

Paul Wagner

Paper-thin dough spread with minced lamb, tomato, pepper and parsley, baked in minutes. Squeeze over lemon, add herbs and roll it up.

Gentiana Shala

A velvety chicken and okra soup thickened with egg yolks and sour cream. Once served only to the beys of Sarajevo, now the classic iftar starter.

Amira Hodžić